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by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
He was able to cruise to victory for his first win of the year as he improved to 1-1 for Toronto over three starts. Ortiz allowed just one earned run coming on a Pablo Sandoval sacrifice fly in the first inning. Otherwise, the Giants could not score off him over 100 pitches. He gave up six hits and walked one with one strikeout.
Ortiz, 39, was a bit shaky in his first start of the season back on April 17 against the White Sox. However, he started May 10 at Boston and allowed just one run over five innings in a loss. He's given up just two runs over his last 12 innings and has impressed manager John Gibbons.
The Toronto rotation has been hindered by injuries with J.A. Happ and Josh Johnson both on the shelf. Ricky Romero has been unable to find the strike zone consistently. Because of that, Gibbons must keep turning to Ortiz, MLB.com reports. His next start should come Monday or Tuesday against Tampa Bay.
"One thing about Ortiz is he competes; he's been around. He knows what this level of baseball is all about," Gibbons said. "He relies on hitting his spots and getting a lot of ground balls like he did the other day. If he does that, he should be effective."
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
The New York backstop went 1 for 4 and is batting .258. He has hit in three straight games and has two homers over his last 10 contests.
by R.J. White | CBSSports.com
"Whenever I had free time, I just stepped in front of a mirror and went through my mechanics, and made sure everything's on line," Niese told MLB.com. "I can feel when it's right."
Niese added that he's over the back soreness that hampered him earlier this month. He'll try to turn his season around Thursday against the Cardinals.
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com
The right-hander made it through his first five frames scoreless before running into trouble in the sixth. In that inning, he loaded the bases before Neil Walker drove in two with a single.
Gallardo, who threw 97 pitches, also struck out five while taking his third loss.
His next start is scheduled for Monday against the Dodgers.
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
Hughes threw 36 pitches -- 23 strikes -- and surrendered seven earned runs on six hits -- including a grand slam by former teammate Raul Ibanez -- before being lifted in favor of Preston Claiborne.
The 26-year-old walked two and did not strike out a batter as he fell to 2-3 with his ERA growing to 5.88. Hughes had won two straight starts entering Wednesday, but has given up 13 earned runs over his last two outings spanning just 6 1/3 innings.
Hughes will have to turn things around again in a hurry after his ERA rose above 5.00. With an ugly WHIP of 1.55 and a .314 batting average against, Hughes has really struggled to begin the year. His next scheduled start comes Monday at Baltimore.
by Chris Towers | CBSSports.com
So far, Hudson's main issue has been pitching out of jams with runners in scoring position; batters are hitting .385 against him with runners on second or third, compared to just .249 otherwise. As a result, 35.1 percent of all base runners have come around to score on him, a career-high rate. Entering the season, Hudson has allowed just 26.2 percent of base runners to come around and score on him in his career, so that is the biggest reason for his struggles.
Hudson is still racking up groundballs at a high rate, though he does have an abnormally high 13.6 home run per fly ball percentage. It is a bit of a generalization, but strand rate and home run per fly ball rate are based, at least partially, on chance, so Hudson could easily see those numbers turn around.
Hudson stands a pretty solid chance of turning his season around moving forward, so I wouldn't give up on him just yet.
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
Marshall allowed five earned runs on nine hits and five walks over 108 pitches for the Yankees. He surrendered two homers and struck out one as manager Joe Girardi let him go deep in order to help save the New York bullpen.
Marshall, a starter at Triple-A, was 2-2 with a 4.60 ERA in six starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He struck out 29 and walked 21 in 31 1/3 innings.
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
On Wednesday, Bard gave up a hit, unleashed two wild pitches and walked five batters over one inning. He gave up two runs in that inning. Bard worked around two walks in the sixth inning before recording three outs. He then walked all three batters he faced in the seventh before being removed.
In five appearances since returning to Double-A after a brief promotion to the big leagues, Bard has thrown strikes on just 34 percent of his pitches. He has 13 walks over 3 2/3 innings.
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com
Jenkins held Boston to just two earned runs Sunday and impressed general manager Alex Anthopoulos in the process. The GM said it was the best he's ever seen Jenkins perform.
The Blue Jays have tabbed Jenkins' next start to come either Monday or Tuesday at home against Tampa Bay. Because that start is a week away, Jenkins was available to pitch out of the bullpen Wednesday.
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com
The left-hander allowed four runs on six hits over six innings of work while winning his major-league debut Tuesday night.
